Of nobles and streetrats
by LawlietLover
Summary: John is a blossoming noble who no longer wants to deal with a life that has already been decided for him, he runs away only to encounter Karkat, a kid who lives on the streets. Karkat takes him in as long as John promises to do what ever he wants when ever he wants. Expect fluff and angst. Johnkat AU
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: Hi ! This is my first homestuck fanfiction so I hope you all like it. please feel free to review, especially about the characterization. **

**Enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck**

John had to admit that he felt nervous. He straightened his cap on his head, tugging his worn shirt into place. He wasn't used to this style of clothes; the rough fabric scratched at his skin while his usual silk and cotton robes would do the opposite. He looked himself over in the mirror, deciding that he looked normal enough. Grabbing his oldest fitting pair of shoes on his way out, John scampered out of his room. He dodged maids and other servants, ducking behind statues and entering closets when he heard footsteps. _Almost to the door. C'mon Egbert you got this!_ John grinned as he spotted the engraved front door. After checking both ways, he slipped on his shoes and escaped into the outside world. The morning breeze instantly blew at his dark messy locks, only making his hair look more wind-blown then normal. John took a deep breath, relishing the smell of the early morning dew, a smile gracing his lips. He sprinted forward, sneaking through the iron gates separating his mansion of a house from the others in this area.

He began running down the path, heading for town. His old shoes clacked noisily against the cobblestone as he entered the more populated part. People would give him odd looks, and ladies dressed in fine gowns would give him a disapproving glare before giving their parasol a spin and looking to their male companions. John frowned, he was not used to such looks and instantly wondered why they did that. Then he remembered his apparel. _They think I'm middle class if not low class. _John's heart sunk a little in his chest. He had made his daring escape to the outside world because of how back at home he had to do everything properly and dress the right way and talk the right way and so many other things that needed to be done 'the right way.' He didn't want to come to town if it meant the same treatment. An inkling of an idea was slowly being processed in John's mind. This was the rich and snobby part of town anyway, if he went further surely he could escape all of these expectations. He turned on his heel and abandoned the cobblestoned path, instead finding a dusty dirt road leading off into uncharted territory. A burst of excitement flowered in John's chest.

He walked for a little while before coming face to face with much smaller buildings then the ones in the previously village. For one thing, not only were the buildings visibly less attractive and appeared to be slowly crumbling away, ivy climbing along the walls but also a sort of smog seemed to hang in the air, creating a suffocating feeling. The streets were crowded, and as John got closer he had to dodge carriages more frequently. Nervousness was starting to build in his chest. He had never been exposed to this sort of environment, and he wasn't sure how much he liked it. People shoved past him when he paused on the narrow brick sidewalk to study the surroundings. John kept walking and he noticed many dark passages splitting off from the main street and leading off into back alleyways. Determined to escaped the hot crowded walkway, John took a sharp turn into one of the alleyways.

He sighed and leaned against the cool brick, his head spinning with everything he was seeing. Never had he seen so many people all crowded together in such a way. Never had he seen falling apart brick houses with boarded up windows, or people dressed in rags and begging for spare change. All he had be exposed to were finely dressed people with high class manners and elegant, perfect buildings. He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by someone tapping on his shoulder. "Hey kid outta the way before I push you outta the way myself." John looked down to find a small teen, only appearing a year or so younger than him with short messy dark locks and tan skin. He was glaring up at John, his arms crossed in annoyance.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to block your way!" The particular alley that John stumbled into was only about 3 feet in length so John flattened himself as much as he could to allow the other to pass. Muttering under his breath, the dark haired boy maneuvered around John preparing to merge into the sea of people. Before he could leave, John leaned over and grabbed the boy's wrist. "Wait! Actually do you think you could help me out? I'm err kinda new to these parts and I-" The boy quickly flung John's hand from his wrist, turning back to face him.

"What do I look like to you some fucking tour guide?! Fuck off and mind your own damn business!" The boy's voice flared up. Turning on his heel in frustration the boy made an attempt to leave again.

"Waaaait please? I'm uhh new here!" John called after him. The boy didn't even acknowledge that he'd heard something. "C'mon I don't have anywhere to go!" John was feeling a bit desperate as his last chance to get a non-creepy and his age person.

"Fine, I know a place where you can stay on one condition." The boy turned, his dark eyes boring into John's "You owe me, got it? Whatever I want WHENever I want."

John shrugged "You got it!" He then held out a hand to shake, "My name is John by the way. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

The other boy just stared at his outstretched hand a moment before reluctantly taking it, "Karkat, and I swear to god if you keep doing all this formal bullshit I will run off and leave you abandoned in this hellhole of a town."

John's cheeks burned. "sorry geez in my last . . .er. town we did a lot of formal junk."

Karkat narrowed his eyes. "Well this isn't your 'old' town so you'd better listen to me if you want to know how things work around here, infact you should get down on your knees and kiss the ground I walk on since I'm saving your ass from the sharks that roam this place."

_Man this guy really has a mouth on him_ John thought idly. "Uh is that what you want me to do? Kiss the ground you walk on as your favor?" John smirked, starting to kneel down.

"What! No fuck face are you insane?! do you realize just how much filth is on the ground?! besides I'm not such a pompous freak that my only desire would be for you to worship me, in fact if I'm being quite honest you should probably do the exact opposite."

John lifted his hands in a defensive manner. "I was just kidding calm down." John gave Karkat a smile. "So about that place to stay. . ."

Karkat sighed heavily, "Right okay you gotta keep up got it? and I gotta pick some stuff up first." Karkat grumbled and blindly reached for John, his grip locking on John's sleeve. He dragged them both into the stream of people, he effortlessly navigated through the crowd, pulling John behind him. soon the bigger road split into two tinier roads which then split into four other roads, Karkat directing the pair down different paths, occasionally going down back alleyways claiming that the route would be faster that way.

Their conversations were limited, often ending up in Karkat cussing out John for being slow or for stopping to breathe. John noticed that the further they traveled the cleaner the streets looked. They were leaving the slums and entering the land of the better off. After dragging John through a few stores and buying a few armfuls of food, he turned back starting to go back the way he came. John trailed behind, carrying about half of the purchased items. John was actually quite surprised at the amount of trust that Karkat had given him automatically.

John wasn't as obvious as he seemed, and he knew that you didn't just hand off food you just bought to some stranger you just met. John wasn't planning on running off anytime soon (not just because his feet were killing him) but it made him feel honored almost that Karkat seemed to trust him so soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

**I do not own homestuck**

Halfway on their journey back Karkat stopped in his tracks. "Hey this might be an really fucking random question but where are your parents?" John was startled, _where did a question like this come from?_ "Uh Well. . . They aren't with me anymore. . ." John technically wasn't lying but Karkat would probably assume that they were dead. Karkat just nodded, "Thought so, sorry this came out of nowhere but Kanay- uh the lady you'll meet soon only takes in people without parents."

_Wait does that mean Karkat has no parents?_ A seed of sadness and pity planted itself in Johns heart, so he just nodded. "Okay I can't wait to meet her." John said flashing a lopsided grin at Karkat who just glared and turned back around to lead him further in the dusty streets.

"We're almost there asshat." True to his word after a little more walking, Karkat stopped in front of an old looking door with peeling green had entered one of the sideroads to locate the row of merged brick homes that were so close together that if you reached an arm out of one of the dusty windows you could touch the other house easily. "Home sweet fucking home." Karkat murmured under his breath as he shouldered open the door.

"Kanaya! I've got the damn groceries and a newcomer!" Karkat hollered into the house. He then motioned for John to follow him as he entered the house and kicked the door closed. The room was pretty tidy and didn't have as much dirt and dust as John had assumed would be everywhere. It was a small living room with wooden floors and old furniture with outdated patterns and stuffing falling from tears in the sides. The living room lead directly into the small kitchen that consisted of a iron stove and other pots and pans hanging on the walls by nails and an oak table.

Surrounding the long table was a variety of chairs in all different sizes and colors, giving the whole room a homey feeling. John also noticed a very rickety looking staircase leading to another floor and two other doors leading to who knows where. John loved it. He grinned as his eyes absorbed all the small knick knacks and fading paintings that just made the small place feel more like a home then his huge fancy mansion ever felt.

When he turned back to Karkat he saw a mixed expression of confusion and pity. John must have looked like he'd never seen a house before. John just gave Karkat a sheepish look before shamefully turning his gaze to his feet. Karkat took the initiative and crossed the room. "Set that crap over here." he said as he placed his armful of vegetables and loaf of bread on the lone table in the kitchen. John trailed behind, following Karkat's example. Footsteps could be heard coming down the old stairs and Karkat turned expectantly to the noise.

"Hello Karkat and new companion." An thin older woman had appeared at the bottom of the steps, she had jet black hair that was done up in the latest style and her outfit consisted of a fashionable red skirt and black blouse. "Care to introduce me to your friend?" Kanaya gave John a gentle smile and turned to Karkat. Karkat nodded and motioned towards John, "okay well Kanaya this is John, He needed a place to stay so I gave him one, John this is Kanaya, she practically raised me since i was like 9. There formalities are over." Karkat said crossing his arms.

John again out of habit extended his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you!" He said earnestly, flashing a grin.

Kanaya didn't hesitate before returning the hand gesture. "Its a pleasure to meet you as well John." Karkat made a gagging motion before commenting oh how all the polite-ness was going to make him vomit. Kanaya just chuckled while John mentally berated himself for not following Karkat's previous advice about being polite, besides he didn't want people to be suspicious of his actual rank. Kanaya didn't seem to mind though and besides if she would be the one housing him then he figured all the politeness would be in order.

"So is it really okay for me to be staying here?" John asked, suddenly feeling awkward for not asking right of the bat. "Of course, you can stay in Karkat's room."

Karkat froze. "wait I have to share a room with this douche muffin?" Kanaya just rolled her eyes.

"Where else would he be staying? Gamzee and Tavros are already sharing so its only fair." Karkat lowered his eyes, taking his defeat.

"Fine whatever, Its this way." Karkat once again blindly reached out and grabbed John's sleeve, dragging him up the unstable stairs leading up to a second floor. The floor in question consisted of what appeared to be a very tiny hallway with two doors with beige peeling paint. Karkat led him to the door to the left and threw open the door.

"There's only one bed so we'll probably end up sharing." Karkat said a bit awkwardly as John examined the tiny room. A small rusty bed frame with a ratty old mattress and sheets was shoved in the corner, a dresser was crammed against the other side, a few articles of clothing littered the ground. J

ohn smiled to himself, it was so different to his room back at his old house but somehow it seemed more cozy and lived in, he liked it. John also noticed a few pieces of parchment tacked onto the walls, on them appeared to be flyers for upcoming plays all of which appeared to be for some kind of romance.

Karkat just flushed when he noticed John looking at his posters and kicked some of his clothes towards the wall.

"Sooo you like romance eh?" John said, turning to face Karkat.

"Yea you got a problem with that fuck ass?" Karkat glared back at him, daring him with his eyes to insult his genre.

"I mean thats fine its just you like all that mushy feelings junk? Isn't that stuff for girls?" John teased.

"IT'S NOT JUST FOR GIRLS FUCK FACE ALL GENDERS CAN APPRECIATE THE WONDERS THAT IS THE ROMANTIC GENRE!" Karkat had gone as red as a tomato. John just laughed, placing a hand on Karkat's shoulder that was promptly shrugged off.

"Karkat I was kidding I don't care if you like romance or not, I mean it's not as cool as action but whatever." Karkat just stared at him with the strangest expression on his face. It was a cross of anger and something else that John wasn't sure of.

"Your so fucking weird John." John just grinned and collapsed onto the mattress lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He sighed slightly, feeling exhausted from his travels. There was a dip in the bed as Karkat sat on the edge, a rustle of parchment was then heard as karkat thumbed through a small book. This caught John's attention.

"Hey you can read?" John sat up to peer over Karkat's shoulder. The book was roughly shut before John could have a good glance.

"A little, why can you read?" Karkat moved over slightly to make room next to him for John.

"Yea I'm practically a pro." John said grinning, once again trying to look over Karkat's shoulder at the title of the book he was reading.

"A pro eh? Who taught you?" Karkat looked at him a bit suspiciously. _Abort abort! target suspicion breached! Damn it John don't you know only royals are allowed an education._ John thought angrily to himself as he scrambled to come up with what to say next.

"uh my mom did actually" John said sheepishly. Karkat nodded accepting this, "Kanaya taught me a bit, although I'm not all that good I prefer going to plays." He shrugged and held out his book to John.

"Can you read this? I heard it was supposed to be a great love story, but I can't make heads or tails of the words." John grinned and took the book.

"Romeo and Juliet, you know this is actually a play not a book right?"

"I fucking knew that I just so happened to found a book version okay?!" Karkat made a grab for his book and John held it out of reach. John laughed and Karkat growled as John played keep away from Karkat until Karkat just gave up, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"Fine take the damn book." He muttered before belly flopping on his bed. John took that opportunity to flip through the Romeo and Juliet book, noting to himself that it was a pretty easy read and was probably written as an abridged version of the book for those in the younger demographics.

"Hey Karkat if you wanted I could read this out loud for you! I mean I think I can read this pretty well and why not?" John said, excited about his new idea. "Fuck no." Was Karkat's reply.

"Pleeeeease come on I'll even do different voices!"

"I said fuck no."

John walked over and sat near where Karkat was laying and poked his side.

"Come on you know you want me toooo."

After a bit more poking and prodding Karkat sat up and gave John his most fierce glare while John gave Karkat his best puppy dog eyes. Thus the staring contest began. 30 seconds later Karkat blinked,

"Fine whatever, but don't do the voices it will make you seem like more of an idiot then you actually are." John just chuckled and opened to the first page.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Sorry this is a bit late but I was at an overnight camp for a week and other stuffs been happening but I'll be around more so expect another chapter soon. Enjoy! This is mainly an introduction chapter thing I promise the plot will really get going next chapter. **

**I do not own homestuck**

After what seemed like thirty minutes but in reality was an hour, a soft tapping on Karkat's door halted what to John was the best reading of Shakespeare he's ever done (with the voices of course) while Karkat sat on the bed, loudly commentating on his reading skills and voices. He noticed Karkat might seem angry when he shouted at him but he saw the soft smile or the moments when he was obviously holding back a laugh when he did something especially ridiculous. The door creaked open revealing Kanaya, John stopped talking mid sentence, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Dinner is ready you two, and Gamzee and Tavros have returned and want to meet our new guest."

Karkat got off the bed, walking to John and taking the book from his hands. "Okay we're coming." Kanaya nodded and shut the door. He placed the novel on his bed and reluctantly reached out for John's sleeve like he did in the street before. "C'mon fuck face time to go meet people. Now you better not be a rude idiot when you see them got it?"

John frowned. "Karkat I'm not gonna be rude! Don't worry I'll be super polite to your fellow housemates."

The angry one groaned, "Here we go with the politeness again." he lead John from his room and down the stairs, still attached to his sleeve which was really unnecessary since John could remember how to get downstairs. He figured Karkat just wanted to seem in-charge so he let him guide him down the flight of stairs and back to the main room. There were two new people sitting at the table. One had long greasy hair that needed a good brushing. He also adorned what seemed to be paint of some sort, smeared across his face messily. Next to him was a tan shy looking boy. When the pair got closer, Karkat sat down in one of the mismatched chairs in front of the greasy haired boy. He motioned for John to take the stool to his left, releasing his grip on his sleeve. "Okay lets get these stupid introductions over with." With one hand he motioned to the one with the painted face. "This is Gamzee, Gamzee this is John." Gamzee lazily lifted a hand and waved to John. Frankly Gamzee made John feel uneasy there was something about his blank stare and subtle smile that made him feel nervos , but remembering what Karkat had told him he just put on a smile and waved back.

"Nice to meet you I do hope we will become good friends." John said as overly-eloquently as he could, making the angry boy next to him poke his side sharply.

"Woah what a polite motherfucker, It's a nice to motherfucking meet you too John" Gamzee gave him a toothy smile revealing more than a few yellow teeth. "

Yea yea my heart is bursting with the amount sentimental shit." Karkat then gestured to the other figure who was crouching over in his chair in a almost defensive manner. "This is Tavros, Tavros this is John."

John faced the boy, waving cheerfully. He was returned with a small wave. "It's also nice to meet you!" he said with normal politeness, not wanting Karkat to be too annoyed.

"uhhh Yes nice to meet you too." Tavros stuttered, giving him the impression that he would not being conversing much with him. After the introductions, Kanaya walked to the table carrying a big pot of something that smelled fresh and herby. It turned out to be some sort of herbal soup that tasted far better that John expected. The conversation that night was small, most of it being Gamzee telling Kanaya all about his day working as pie baker across the street where also Tavros apparently worked as a dishwasher. Soon however Gamzee's story came to an end with him being allowed to bake a pie on his own without the ever so careful watch of the young women who owned the shop.

"Now Karkat I was wondering exactly how did you and John meet?" Kanaya asked curiously, arms crossed. Karkat glanced over at John who had remained pretty quiet the whole meal.

"Well this fuckass over here didn't let me pass by him. So I told him to take a hike, and of course he totally ignored all 'stranger danger' notions and begged me to house his sorry ass. Then here we are, all gathered around this damn table listening to me rant on and on about something that doesn't matter. John is with us now it doesn't matter how it fucking came to be." Karkat grumbled that last bit under his breath as if it wasn't for other people's ears. But John had heard him, he felt a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach and he wasn't all that sure why.

Kanaya must of heard what he said too because she smiled and spoke, "You're very right Karkat, John is with us now." She gave John a reassuring look as well. "Now lets clean up and get to bed, Karkat tomorrow take John to work with you and see if you can get him a job, we'll need more money if we're going to have another mouth to feed." Karkat nodded and began stacking plates. Gamzee did the same on the other side, the only one not doing anything was Tavros, who would take the plates from Gamzee and put them on his lap. John watched curiously as Gamzee handed off the last plate to Tavros and walked around behind Tavros's chai- wait. John was a bit surprised to see that what Tavros was sitting in was not one of the many mismatched chairs around the table but one with wheels on it. The taller and scary boy just smiled, wheeling Tavros and his chair over to the sink. John jumped when he felt a sharp pain in his side. "Hey what was that for?" he said turning to face the attacker, rubbing at his side.

"Don't stare it's fucking rude." The dark haired boy went beet red, _was I staring at the poor crippled kid? _"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

He was cut off abruptly by Karkat. "Yea whatever just forget it." John frowned but followed Karkat's lead to the sink to help with dishes. The dinner had been so much better that what he would do at home. Well the food was better at home but here it had felt much more communal and cozy atmosphere. John decided that he loved it and the choice to break his old royal ties was working better than ever.

That night he and Karkat had awkwardly squeezed into the small single bed. John found himself grinning like an idiot because it was like a sleep over. Sometimes his sister would sleep over at her friend's house, they sounded pretty fun. Karkat however didn't seem all that happy with sharing his bed with John. With such a small space, there was no such thing as a personal bubble on this bed. This of course meant that on occasion their legs would brush up against the others or one would bump the other's shoulder awkwardly with their own. After a while of both boys trying to find a comfortable spot, the moon could be seen shining through one of the tiny, dusty windows in Karkat's room. "Pst hey Karkat are you asleep yet?" The young teen whispered.

"Why the fuck would I be asleep we just got comfortable John." he whispered back.

"Hey Karkat how old are you?" he said, ignoring Karkat's previous statement.

Sighing, the other boy whispered back. "Why do you even want to know, why would my age matter?"

He rolled over to face Karkat as previously he had had his back to the boy. "Come on don't be like that! Your age doesn't define you as a person or anything but its something that one would usually ask. I'm 13!" John said a bit too loudly, causing the other boy to shush him.

"Jesus be quiet don't wake up the whole fucking house, I'm 13 too are you happy now?"

"Woa we're the same age?! That so cool!" Karkat just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever just go to fucking bed you happy-go-lucky moron we have shit to get done tomorrow and I refuse to haul your tired ass all over town."

"Good Night then Karkat! Thank you so much for doing this." John rolled back over, letting his eyes flutter closed.

"Yea whatever fuckass." Karkat rolled over too and in a voice muffled by sheets he said. "Good night John."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Hi people, I hope you like this next chapter, I have some fluff planned for the next one so be ready. Also just pretend that Sollux has a lisp here, I don't like typing it out because of reasons. **

"Slow down! jeeze Karkat I can't run as fast as you!" John repeated what he'd been trying to communicate to him for the past 15 minutes. Karkat was dragging him once again by the sleeve through the streets. Surprisingly a lot of people were up and about too despite it being really early in the morning.

Finally he slowed down, nodding to a two story building, "We're here." The first floor windows were boarded up but the place didn't look completely abandoned. Karkat had told him that morning he would be taking him to where he worked but this place was not what John had expected

"So what do you do again?" The taller teen asked a bit nervously as he observed the building in front of him.

"I'm a messenger, I told you at breakfast don't you remember? Or are you such an air head that such key words passed straight through your brain. Are you really that stupid John?" Karkat grumbled, clearly annoyed.

"No no I remember that part but what do you do AS a messenger?"

"What do you think fuck face?! I deliver the messages. Every fucking day I'm given a stack of shit to put up on a few boards around the city, that's how people know what the fuck is going on outside of their pathetic existence. Did you really not have anything like that at your last town?! God let's go in, it will be one of Gamzee's motherfucking miracles if they even give you a job."

The angry teen latched on to John's sleeve and dragged him to the door, leaving no room for protest. He kicked open the slab of wood and walked straight in, going up to a makeshift desk scattered with loose paper, printed paper and jars of ink. He went up to it and rapped loudly on the oak.

"SOLLUX I KNOW YOU'RE BACK THERE I NEED TO TALK TO YOU." Karkat hollered, startling John. The noise of footfalls could be heard coming in their general direction, and then a tall lanky man appeared in the doorway to another room. He had jet black hair and looked like he was at least 20, a strange set of glasses with two different colored lense sat atop his nose.

"Jesus fuck Karkat, there is no reason to yell now what do you want." Then the man noticed John next to Karkat.

"And who's your friend there?"

"Thats why we're here, John needs a job; he's living with me at Kanaya's so I was wondering if you could find it in the souless black pit you call a heart to give this poor fucker a job." John had no idea what he was supposed to do, he'd never had to work in his life and truth be told Sollux was kind of intimidating.

Managing to speak up, he said, "Uhh Please? I don't want to be a burden to Kanaya."

Sollux didn't say anything for a few minutes, sizing John up.

"Take him with you on your routes today, tell him how its done, we've been short on people ever since Aradia left so If he doesn't fuck up too badly today then he stays." And with that Sollux turned to leave. "The papers are in the other room, I expect you back at a reasonable time." Karkat nodded to his retreating back.

"Okay fuckass let me tell you how its done." John trailed behind Karkat, watching over his shoulder as the shorter teen picked up a few thick stacks of paper, sorting out chunks of paper into two piles. "Okay you hold these and I'll lead, and move fast, I'm not gonna slow down because you can't move your god damn legs a bit faster." And with that he had already stepped from the room, swiftly moving out of the room towards the entrance of the building.

"Karkaaaaaaaaaaaaat, waittt!" John ran after his guide.

Once they got to the first board the sun had risen a bit higher in the sky and John was already feeling fatigue. Karkat instructed him to go to the other side of the board and put up one of all the papers he had. Sighing he walked around to the back of the sign, doing what was instructed of him until something made his freeze. It was a picture of his own face staring back at him. 'Missing, John Egbert, reward allive: 100 boon dollars.' was printed on a few posters. John's hands shook, _How did they throw this together so soon?! I've only been gone a day! _He quickly snuck a peek at Karkat who was nearly done. _What am I gonna do?! _John thought frantically. An idea popped in his brain.

He quickly picked up one of the flyers with his details and tacked it underneath one of the other posters. He did this with the remaining posters smiling as he tacked up the last one. Now his identity was safe for now. It scared him though. what if next time Karkat has the other stack of papers and he comes across something like that, or Sollux notices when printing off these papers. It was enough stress to make John want to tear his hair out.

"Hey fuckass you okay? you've been staring at that same spot for awhile now." he heard Karkat's voice directly behind him actually sounding a bit concerned. He jumped and quickly turned to face Karkat.

"I'm fine! great actually! Heheh uh can we move on before it gets too hot out?" John said starting to walk away from the boards. There was a force holding him back though, Karkat had grabbed his actually wrist this time not just his sleeve. "Hey you're acting a bit fucking mysterious and even though it doesn't take a fucking detective to figure out your probably just thinking about something stupid, but if you seriously have something to say spill it." His eyes bored into John's as he tried to read him.

"Geeze Karkat it was seriously nothing okay?" Karkat didn't look like he bought it, but he just shrugged and turned to leave.

"Hey don't go running off!" John reached over and grabbed Karkat's wrist, not because for some reason if felt comforting or anything but because otherwise he would get lost! Karkat gave him a look but surprisingly didn't throw off his wrist.

"Yea yea come on we got work to do."

When the pair finished up the job, they returned back to the old falling down printing building to talk to Sollux again. The older man greeted them in the front room, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.

"I see you too are back all in one piece, how did it go?" Karkat and John exchanged looks.

"Fucking fantastic." Sollux cracked a grin.

"I see, fine John can have a job here," He then turned to look directly at John.

"Stick with Karkat till you learn the ropes, I've got shit to take care of." Sollux turned to leave,"Say hi to Kanaya for me." And he was gone.

"Congratulations you have now received one of the shittest jobs on the planet so now you can stay and rot in this hell hole with me."

John just rolled his eyes and nudged Karkat with his shoulder,

"C'mon you know you're glad that he gave me a job. You can't hide this from me Karkat, I am truly the ultimate cat whisperer, I can read you like a book." He wiggled his fingers for full effect.

"You fuck face, who you calling a cat?!" he snarled, glaring up at the taller youth.

"You, Karkat it is you." John made a move to ruffle the angry teen's fluffy black hair but his hand was quickly slapped away.

That night after the celebration of John's new job and some more reading of Romeo and Juliet, John and Karkat were once again, awkwardly lying next to one another.

"Hey uh John." Karkat's voice was quiet and somber, quite different from his usual loud and angry self.

"Yea?" He rolled over so that he was face to face with the other teen. The moonlight illuminated Karkat's soft features, giving John a strange fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"What was your old town like?"

John froze, what was he supposed to say to that? _Think on your feet! come on make something up!_ "It was bigger than here for sure, it wasn't as uh communal as it is here. I don't think I could take it. What I mean to say is that it didn't feel right, there were a lot of expectations on me. It's much better here Karkat trust me, you don't want to go to my town."

His friend just said, 'Oh' and nothing else for awhile. He was sure that the shorter teen had drifted off to sleep when he heard his voice again. "John." His voice was much quieter this time and John only responded with a small grunt.

"Do you miss it at all, your parents or friends or anything?"

This made him think, he wasn't that close with his mother or father, but he did feel a bit of sadness about his sister and his two other friends. They would probably miss him and he couldn't help but miss them too.

The way all three of them would get together and just be themselves and do things like sliding down the long banister at Dave's house or play music together and recount funny stories about things they saw in town that day or over heard their parents talking about. Suddenly John felt a gut-wrenching sadness, his friend's faces appeared in his mind and all he could think about was how he wasn't going to get to see them again. There was a weight on his shoulder and he looked up to see Karkat's hand there, in a somewhat reassuring way.

"Listen I fucked up ok, I shouldn't have brought that up." He just shook his head.

"Its fine, I do miss them I guess." His voice came out more shakily than intended. Karkat slowly removed his hand from atop his shoulder. He actually kind of wanted him to keep his warm palm there on his shoulder, but there was no way he would ask. Silence overcame the pair and soon they drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors note: hello people sorry it's been awhile I was in London. I'm actually considering writing a short mystery JohnKat fic based off my experience so keep an eye out for that.**

**I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

"Hey Karkat, look at this." John proceeded to continue to shove the poster he found in his friends face.

"Look it says 'Romance in the castle' that sounds right up your alley." Karkat just rolled his eyes. "Just because it's a romantic play doesn't make me want to watch it." The other boy just pouted.

"C'mon tomorrow is Saturday so no work, besides you know you want too." He shook the parchment ever so slightly as if by doing that small action it would convince Karkat of all people to change his mind. He only received a glare in return. Thus began the game of who will give out first. John adjusted his position on Karkat's bed to prepare for the war ahead while the other teen merely rolled his eyes.

"Karkat I didn't want to have to do this but you forced me."

"John what are yo-" But before he could finish his sentence John was giving him his best puppy dog eyes, and when Karkat looked into those deep blue corneas it was over.

"Why do you want me to go to this show anyway?" the angry one turned his gaze from John's puppy dog eyes in defiance.

"I dunno I want to go to a show! and besides I saw you staring at the posters when we put them up the other day." Another eye roll.

"Fine we'll go tomorrow."

The next day after bidding farewell to Kanaya, the two boys ran from the house. John had gotten better at keeping up with the other boy. He would never admit it to anyone but he sometimes slowed down just a bit so that Karkat would reach over and grab his wrist to move him along. As he did now, but only because he'd never been to the theater before and would get lost of course! Not because he liked the pressure on his wrist, or the warmth of Karkat's hand that would be absurd.

It was early in the morning, and the air was cool and breezy. Soft light danced off the broken glass and smooth stones that littered the pavement. Morning around here was John's favorite time of the day. Not only was it the most quiet during this hour but the nice breeze and warm early morning light was just wonderful to him.

The sun was considerably higher in the sky when the pair arrived at the large oak structure that was the outdoor theater.

"Alright here is the place, stick by me okay? This is not the time for you to fly off to who knows where, leaving me to shit myself wondering where the fuck you went and if you've been brutally murdered for being too happy or just fell the fuck down and cracked open your skull because you're that much of an idiot." John just laughed; he was starting to understand his friend's long winded spiels better and the true meanings behind them.

"Aww are you worried about me Karkat, is that is?" He teased, smirking playfully. The other boy's face went the color of a tomato.

"I WAS NOT WORRIED! Just whatever, stick by me ass hat." he turned away in a huff and started off in the direction of the wood structure. The building itself looked to be just a wooden fence and tall oak steps where people could be seen mingling and sitting down ready for the show. The theater was situated at the cross between to mildly busy streets (nothing like the ones he had first encountered) with an occasional street vender and cleaner looking buildings.

John stopped observing his surroundings to notice his friend already on the other side of the street tapping his foot impatiently. Grinning he ran to catch up, this time taking initiative and sliding his hand on Karkat's.

"Sorry, I better stick closer to you eh?" The smaller boy huffed and glared but didn't remove their hands; he just muttered 'whatever' and started walking.

They had almost made a full circle of the theater when John spoke up.

"Hey why didn't we just go in through the front?"

"We're not going through the front idiot, theater tickets are out of our budget range." Karkat didn't miss a beat, stopping in front of a specific wood panel on the outside of the theater. A pang of guilt and worry shot through John, he'd never stolen anything or even thought about it, he hadn't ever have needed too. _Just go with it Egbert, Karkat's obviously done this a thousand times, this is your new life now! _

"You coming or what?" he was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of the other boy's voice. Karkat had appeared to have pried a panel from the wall easily, revealing a small crawl space. He nodded and followed behind into the space, Karkat closed the panel again once they were inside. It was pitch black in there, but with the guide of his friend, they crawled on all fours to a place where a beam of light shown through a crack in the wall. Peering through the crack you could clearly see the stage, as the actors set up some props.

"whoa how did you find such an awesome spot?" he grinned and turned his head to face his friend. In order for them both to see they had to be relatively close but i didn't seem awkward anymore.

"Shhh can you not fucking yell Egbert, I don't want to attract attention, it was actually chance that I found this rat hole now. Now if you could please be quiet the shows gonna start soon."

In response, he just grinned and faced the crack, ready for the show to start.

John only lasted 20 minutes before the appeal of watching the very romantic show started to wear off, He turned to find Karkat gazing at the scene with total attention. A warms sensation spread through his abdomen as he couldn't help but notice how the light ever so refracted off the other boy's face, leaving him a bit breathless. Unsure of what he was feeling, John quickly looked to the other side. He spent the rest of the time till intermission just glancing over at Karkat's delicate features. He was met with a fierce glare when the curtain fell.

"What are you doing fuckass." He flushed a bit forgetting that he'd been staring.

"Sorry I guess I got a bit bored." John said sheepishly averting his eyes.

"After I went through the trouble of coming here like you wanted." He smiled when he heard the sarcasm in the other boy's voice. Silence followed, but not the awkward silence where nobody knows what to say, more like where two people just enjoy each other's company. John like usual was the one to break the silence.

"Hey Karkat why do you like romantic stuff so much anyway, isn't it a bit dull." Silence followed that statement and John was almost sure his friend hadn't heard him when he spoke up.

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Of course, unless of course whatever you say is funny."

"Oh fuck off I thought you had a question you wanted answer."

"Hehe that prank was definitely not my best, I won't laugh I swear."

"Fine, it may seem stupid to your purely action wired brain but I , oh god I can't believe I'm saying this, I just wish my life was like a play. The actors are always pretty, they always go on an adventure and the guy always gets the girl. Every time, no matter how hard their lives are they always win. And then to top it off they get the reward of being loved by everyone and I just want that okay? is that so much to ask for? A life where you are guaranteed love?"

Karkat kind of curled in on himself the more he told John. He felt a pang in his heart, and immense sensation that made him reach out and envelope his friend in a hug. Karkat was clearly surprised, because he stiffened up and didn't do anything for a few seconds before hesitantly hugging back.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Im sorry this took so long to be finished and is on the short side. School kind of punched me in the face so I haven't had much motivation or time for this chapter. Enjoy!**

The next day was back to work, and so was the next and the next as well, it was that thursday however when things turned for the worst for John .

Sollux had stopped him when he and Karkat showed up at the run down print store. "Kk just go grab the papers I need to have a word with John here." John shivered, wondering (and internally knowing but not wanting to accept the truth) what Sollux wanted him for. His friend just raised an eyebrow at them before turning into the next room to pick up the stack of prints.

Sollux placed a hand on the nervous boy's shoulder and lead him into the back office. John pretended to suddenly be interested in his shoes, not looking Sollux in the eye. The room was tidy, papers evenly stacked on tables and the printing press sat neatly in the corner. The older man shut the door behind the pair. He walked to his desk, brushing aside a few papers and picking up a singular sheet. Sighing, Sollux turned back towards the other boy, displaying the parchment. John's heart sunk, it was one of the lost pamphlets with his face staring back at him. "I thought you seemed familiar before, so kid what did you do?" Sollux folded up the paper and crossed his arms.

"I don't k-"

"Don't give me that shit, you must have run away for one reason or another. what did you do steal some of your daddy's jewels." The bespectacled man narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"NO! I just hated it! I couldn't handle all the responsibility." John threw up his hands in a defensive manner. "I just wanted to escape that life! Thats all! Please don't tell anyone, I just want to pretend that part of my life never happened, I'm much happier here with Karkat then there with my stuffy dad and never to be bride."

There was a long silence before Sollux sighed, tearing the piece of paper up into tiny bits and tossing them in the garbage.

"I won't print any more of these, but you need to tell Karkat. He'll understand." John shook his head, "I can't please just let it be my secret. No one has to know!" He said frantically. Karkat couldn't know, he didn't want to mess up the relationship he had tried so hard to build up. Sollux shook his head, "Fine but I'm telling you John it would be easier on you if you told KK yourself before he figures it out." He then placed another stack of flyers in John's hands and motioned for him to leave. He swallowed harshly and turned walking from the room.

Karkat was waiting for him when he left the room.

"What shit did you get yourself into this time?" the angry teen crossed his arms, and looked up at the other boy expectantly.

"hehe my posters were really crooked last time he told me to remember to straighten them up." John lied.

Karkat bought the ruse and motioned towards the door. They ran off into the distance. John's mind was racing. _Sollux just accepted him! would karkat do the same? or would this small fact change how his new friend saw him as a person? _all of this was so hard to take in_._ He found himself so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that Karkat has stopped walking and was standing in front of him, shaking his shoulder a bit.

"Johnn? Come on fuckass snap out of it."

His eyes looked up to meet his friend's, getting out his daze.

"Sorry I was thinking. . ." John shook his head a bit, tearing his gaze from his friends, oh god he hated lying to him.

"About what. Come on spit it out, we have things to do." Was that worry in Karkat's voice? No John was just hearing things weird.

"uh can we talk later?" John suggested, wanting to sort through his thoughts a bit.

His friend just nodded, and reached over to interlock his fingers with John's "You are a real jackass you know that? You can always talk to me fuck face." His comment was lacking its usual bite. The other boy nodded, internally screaming because he was too cowardly to say what was really eating at him. With their finger's joined, they sprinted off to do their job.

The next day started out normal, like most days. The two boys were in a more populated part of the city and early morning crowds were bustling around, carrying large parcels and wrapping their coats and shawls tighter to fend off the early morning chill. Winter was coming, the warmth of fall slowly seeping away with each day that passed. The strangers on the streets would occasionally glance over the young boy's shoulder, hungry for the daily news that could only be accessed in certain places.

It was really the most average morning John and Karkat could have. The clacking of horse hoofs on pavement was not all that unusual, although it still caused heads to raise to the passenger. This included John. And in that moment the day was no longer normal as Vriska Serket's pure white horse strutted down the dusty road.


End file.
